THE ball came in towards the goal square high and loopy and underneath were two players. One was a long strip of a kid with bandages around any visible joint and the other was a shorter, rounder defender. The kid lifted his taped-up shoulders, swung his elbows to nudge the smaller man out of the way and raised his long arms.

Ayce Cordy took the mark while Jackson Trengove could but watch. This was the sight that would please Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney even more than yesterday's final score.

It could have been a 12-goal win but in reality was half that margin due to the Dogs' inaccurate kicking, but that is a trifling matter really for the big picture yesterday was about the big players.

The Bulldogs sampled a game with three tall forwards for the first time. They began with Liam Jones leading from the goal square, Jordan Roughead rummaging around centre half-forward and Cordy floating between posts.

Cordy emerged as the man most likely. Roughead impressed early - he is an aggressive player who has some tricks to his game - but could not influence the match as much as he might have liked - but there were good things about his game.

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Like Cordy, he can ruck and play forward, but, at present Will Minson is honest in the ruck allowing time for the other two to be crafted into players.

If the Bulldogs can get the blend right, with Jones playing a role, they will have three tall forwards with either Cordy or Roughead able to alternate in the ruck.

In all likelihood, two will be the preference, but the sight of Cordy shrugging a player aside and grabbing the ball as a genuine power forward was a pleasing sight for the Dogs.

The result was that the Bulldogs managed 17 marks inside 50, a reasonable return but one that should have been a lot better given their 59 inside 50s and the number of marks they dropped. Jones was a culprit. Back in the side after a game in the VFL he was frisky but largely ineffectual. Indeed he received (a tad unkindly) the Bronx cheer from his own fans midway through the second quarter when he took a mark. He was on the wing at the time.

The Bulldogs lack that explosively quick opportunist forward - as long as Luke Dahlhaus is used on the ball - but yesterday they had a blend of forwards with Daniel Giansiracusa and Shaun Higgins presenting and Tory Dickson continuing his growth.

Dickson found the goals where others found only disappointment. His kicks even found the goals when they shouldn't have, such as the one that almost missed his foot and swung so much that had it been a cricket ball it would have been heading for third slip before finding middle and off.

It was a not a day of clean kicking. The Bulldogs were horribly inaccurate and many of those were set shots from mid-range. They should have had the result assured at quarter time after booting 3.6 to the Power's solitary goal. Christian Howard and Rob Murphy streamed through the centre of the ground off half-back. Murphy had 12 touches in the first quarter, Howard 10, and opened Port up. It was one of the best games that Howard, who was a first-round draft choice, has played for the Dogs. Although he faded in the second half he looks increasingly assured as he blends attack and defence.

Murphy was the counterpoint to the entire game. Where Port Adelaide could not reliably find players with their kicks, Murphy could not miss. Only an intercepting fingernail on a kick late in the game blotted a clean sheet of 100 per cent kicking efficiency.

Port at half-time had had 87 kicks and more than half of them were clangers or ineffective. It improved its kicking after half-time but it was never a game that scaled the heights. It was competitive but not skilled.

The Dogs' goalkicking kept alive the idea of a Port challenge but it was not a convincing thought with the way it moved the ball and had so few clear winners on the ground. Its hopes were further hurt after half-time when they Jacob Surjan was substituted out of the game early in the third term, suffering the lingering effects of a heavy hit to the head and jaw. Port then lost Hamish Hartlett to a hamstring late in that quarter leaving them one short for the remainder of the game. Paul Stewart, meanwhile, was also labouring with a hamstring injury that meant that although he was on the ground he was unable to kick the ball.

But this was a not a day about Port. It was a Dog day. It was a day about a young, tall Dog and one old Dog. It was a day to wonder about tomorrow and quietly nod respectfully to the man of the past, Charlie Sutton.

MCCARTHY'S BLUNDER

John McCarthy guaranteed himself a spot on one of the footy review shows this week with his second-term missed shot at goal. Two Bulldogs collided in a marking contest, leaving the Sherrin to spill to the Port player just 25 metres out, straight in front. Rather than run straight and drill it through, he took a step to the side and tried to dribble it in a Daicosian manner, and missed.

DICKSON GOALS WITH ANKLE

Tory Dickson, the Bulldogs' half-forward, hardly ever misses goal. Even when he kicks one off his ankle, as he appeared to do with a set shot from 40 metres in the third quarter. The kick swung hard right and sneaked through. He managed a fist pump and a smile, and kicked three others.

DOGS REMEMBER CHARLIE

Both teams lined up for a minute's silence to honour the late Charlie Sutton, the Bulldogs' only premiership captain and coach. The Dogs dedicated the day to Sutton. When Luke Dahlhaus kicked a nice, angled goal in the third quarter, he looked to the exultant crowd and tapped a finger on his black armband. - MARTIN BLAKE